From the Savannah Sand Gnats to the Montgomery Biscuits , Minor League Baseball is full of slightly bizarre names . But where do they all arrive from ? From now until Opening Day , we ’ll be taking a aspect at the news report behind some of the slap-up squad names in MiLB . So far we ’ve cover the level behind theAkron RubberDucksand theLehigh Valley IronPigs , and today we tackle the Las Vegas 51s .
The key to understand the Mets Triple - A affiliate ’s squad name is on their hat . Blue caps bear the stretch capitulum of a sketch - ish extraterrestrial being sporting baseball game - like stitches . The teams ' mascot , a googly - eyed guy named Cosmos , continues the extra terrestrial musical theme . The name refers to Area 51 , the top - cloak-and-dagger military groundwork located about 80 miles outside the city that has historically been the epicentre of UFO conspiracies .
When the team get in in Vegas , it was known as the Stars . But 17 years subsequently , before the 2000 season , the team swapped out one cosmic name for another . The modification coincided with an affiliation turnover , from the San Diego Padres to the Los Angeles Dodgers .
ab initio , the alien - embellish hat were a hit and the new marque succeeded in appealing to a younger audience . But when Stevens Baseball Group bought the dealership in 2008 , CEO Derek Stevens severalize the media , " I ’ll be honest , I ’m not the biggest fan of the 51s name . "
He plan to change it the follow off season , but shifting affiliations got in the elbow room . The Dodgers skip over town for Albuquerque . While in the process of signing a new Player Development Contract with the Toronto Blue Jays , the owners of the 51s pretermit MLB ’s deadline to render name and logotype change .
The squad has stayed the 51s ever since , surviving another ownership modification and espousal into the Mets ' system . As trends in Minor League Baseball team name lean towards ever - increasing originality , the once - wacky reference to flying saucer now seems perfectly par for the class .
Or , as 51s spiritualist coition director Jim Gemma said , " When you have the El Paso Chihuahuas and the Albuquerque Isotopes , the 51s is n’t that unearthly . "
